Synthetic-aperture radar, animal-free egg protein, $12.7 trillion of broken food system, and many more...
What's Up Tech? #179
Welcome to our 179th newsletter, written with 🖤 by Denisa Lepădatu, Javier Gascón Araujo, Shubham Sandilya, and Justine Pelisson.
Fundraisings from last week with Flink, ICEYE, GridBeyond, and Onego Bio
News from last week with the most interesting urban mobility investments, the hidden costs behind the global food system, Agteria’s unique molecule discovery, and Elaia & Lazard’s new deeptech fund
Internships & Job offers of the week
Enjoy the read! 🌞
🛴Flink, a German ultra-fast delivery company, raised €100m ($106m) (🇩🇪)
German grocery delivery startup Flink has raised €100 million ($106 million) to navigate cost increases and sluggish demand in the grocery delivery sector. 🛍️
The company, which previously had a pre-money valuation of $2.1 billion, has been actively expanding its presence through acquisitions, including the recent acquisition of competitor Cajoo. Merger discussions with potential partners like Getir and Just Eat Takeaway signal strategic moves amid pandemic-induced grocery app growth and subsequent challenges. 🗝
Grocery App Flink Raises $106 Million, Explores Sale to Rivals
🛰️Space startup ICEYE raised €94M in growth equity (🇫🇮)
ICEYE, a Finnish space startup that specializes in providing synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) data for various applications such as maritime monitoring, disaster management, and infrastructure monitoring, raised €94 million in growth equity led by Solidium Oy, bolstering its data products expansion. 📈
With $438 million in total funding, ICEYE ranks as Europe's second-best-funded spacetech startup, serving sectors like insurance and security. 🥈
⚡GridBeyond raised $55M to manage distributed and flexible energy sources (🇮🇪)
Dublin-based GridBeyond, a leader in grid optimization through the use of AI, has raised $55M for its series C. The company is currently present in Ireland and the UK and their key product is a “Grid Edge Virtual Power Plant”. 🙌
Most of the money raised will be targeted at diving deeper into the use of AI for energy storage, energy flexibility and the energy transition. The rest will be used to enter other markets with their current solution (US, Australia and Japan). 🌐
🧪Onego Bio secured $40M Series A for animal-free egg protein (🇮🇪)
Finnish Onego Bio raised $40 million in Series A funding to produce animal-free egg protein via precision fermentation, marking one of the Nordics' largest A-rounds, totaling $56 million in funding for the company.🥚
Led by industry pioneers, Onego's Bioalbumen offers bioidentical protein with exceptional nutritional value and functionality, leading the shift towards sustainable and accessible food protein solutions globally. 🌱
💰The EU goes all in by investing in 100 urban mobility startups in 1000 days
The EIT’s (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) branch dedicated exclusively to urban mobility is by far Europe’s most prolific investor in such startups. Its director of impact ventures, Fredrik Hånell, shares the most interesting startups to keep an eye on 👁:
Nudgd, Swedish SaaS that creates platforms to ‘nudge’ users towards better choices, like taking more environmentally-friendly modes of transport.
Circuli-ion, a Luxembourg startup that has created a very efficient battery recycling solution
PANTOhealth, based in Germany and focused on using AI to identify maintenance faults to keep trains running.
EIT Urban Mobility Invested in More than 100 startups in 1,000 days. Here are its Top Picks to Watch
🌍The global food system's yearly toll is $12.7 trillion
The UN has published a report that unveils the global food system's hidden costs at $12.7 trillion, around 10% of global GDP, primarily affecting health (73%) and the environment (over 20%). 👎
Low-income countries face 27% hidden costs, contrasting 8% in high-income nations. It highlights the imperative for government intervention, personal decisions, and responsible industry conduct to tackle these interlinked expenses.💸
🌱 This Swedish startup has found a way to reduce methane emissions from cows by 70%
Swedish startup Agteria Biotech has created a patent-pending molecule that could help fix a huge part of the methane emissions problem, aiming to cut methane from cattle by up to 70% with a new feed molecule, cheaper and more scalable than red seaweed. 🪸
The solution is very easy to scale, really cheap for farmers and has the potential of reducing 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. When patented and mass produced it will be one of the lowest hanging fruits to fight global warming. ☄️
Methane is Damaging the Planet - this Breakthrough Technology could be The Solution
🤝 Elaia & Lazard team up, raising major 1bn€ fund for Deeptech
Leading European VC Elaia has partnered with the global financial advisory & asset management firm Lazard to establish Lazard Elaia Capital, a Paris-based asset management company focusing on technology investments, targeting up to €1bn to back European deeptech startups. 💪
The partnership, initially 75%-owned by Lazard, will launch an initial fund targeting Europe by 2025, with potential for Lazard to acquire full ownership over time. If greenlit by France's AMF, Lazard Elaia Capital will rank among the largest VC funds in France. 💼
Private Investment Bank Lazard Set to Partner with French VC Elaia to Launch a European Growth Fund
Internships
Web3 Analyst - 50 Partners (Paris)
VC Analyst - AQUITI Gestion (Bordeaux)
Working Student VC - XPRESS Ventures (Berlin)
Working Student VC- Oyster Bay Venture Capital (Hamburg)
Jobs
Associate Strategy - Energy Impact Partners (London)
VC Analyst or Associate - Shilling VC (Lisbon)
👉 If you’d like to discover more offers, you can check our job board just here or fill this form to submit a new one.
You can also read more about baby vc on our website and follow our updates on LinkedIn, or directly reach out to us at hello@baby-vc.co! 🤝
The whole baby vc crew 🖤